


love bites

by TokyoTiger91



Category: The Great (TV 2020)
Genre: Blood Drinking, Character Turned Into Vampire, F/M, Human/Vampire Relationship, Implied/Referenced Animal Death, Mild Blood, Vampire Bites, death mentions, i'm mean technically?, like ARE vampires dead?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26995771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TokyoTiger91/pseuds/TokyoTiger91
Summary: Orlo was turned into a vampire when he was at the front. You're friends with him even though you're a serf. You've heard about what happened but you think it's just a stupid rumor, there's no way vampires can be real!
Relationships: Count Orlo x Reader, Orlo x Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	love bites

**Author's Note:**

> this is a mess :)

Orlo’s a recently turned vampire, it happened when he was at the front. He killed a soldier to survive and save others, but the idea that for the rest of his life he now had to purposefully hurt and drink from humans just to live made him feel sick, but the animal blood wasn’t helping and any blood from a dead person that the doctor gave him made him ACTUALLY sick.

He was terrified of taking any blood from someone bloodletting in case anyone saw, plus while it happened quite a bit bloodletting wasn’t common enough to sustain a person. 

So he took to drinking as much animal blood as he could, although he had to drink what he assumed was MUCH more than if he’d just drink from a human.

To his shock Peter actually tried to help by offering to give him serfs. 

He felt his stomach roll at the memory of his cruel, disgusting words. How the king had less compassion than a vampire he’d never know

He jumped at peter slapping him on the shoulder “They’re just serfs, it’s not like they can’t be replaced. And HEY, maybe you won’t be a virgin anymore!” 

You’re a serf, you’ve heard rumors of count Orlo getting bitten by a vampire when he went to the front about a week ago but you took it as bizarre superstition. 

Although you noticed he hasn’t left his room in a few days. When you saw him for the first time since the accident later that evening you were serving food and drink at one of peter’s stupid parties. You were shocked with how sick and pale he was, almost grey, and he wasn’t eating or drinking anything or talking to anyone.

You knew it was probably just from the shock of everything he’s been through and you KNEW it was just rumors and superstition but seeing him like that you couldn’t help but think, what if he is.

You noticed people ignoring him like they were afraid of him, not it the typical way they usually did. Even Peter was being less of a cunt to him. Catherine was the only one that would try and have a conversation with him but even she was a bit wary around him and he was just too out of it to really participate, although she DID actually looked concerned for him which is more than you could say for half of these assholes. 

But you knew just because people were acting like he was a vampire didn’t mean he was, it just meant people were being stupid…..right?.

You weren’t best friends with marial but you got along well enough and she was friends with catherine. You pulled her aside before she could go back out.

“I know we can’t talk, I just have a question, does Catherine know what happened to Orlo?“

You were expecting her to roll her eyes and make fun of your “stupid crush” and make a rude comment about him as per usual. But you weren’t expecting her to look around to make sure no one was listening before talking in a hushed whisper.

“Look i don’t know for sure and i don’t know the details, BUT something did happen to him. I know you don’t believe in it but i’ve been around him more than you have these past few days and if there was ever evidence for a vampire, he’s it “

You stood there slack jawed while she quickly scurried away to serve drinks.

You walked around with your tray as people took drinks off of it. You tried to calm down and get your mind off of it but your eyes kept flicking back to Orlo. 

You were always rather fond of him, he was sweet and kind and didn’t treat you less because of your position. He was probably the only person of status that would conversate with you. So you were upset thinking about the 0000.000.001% chance that he was a vampire, you didn’t want to think about how frightening it was for him or how much pain he’d be in.

You decided to walk over to Catherine and Orlo under the guise of offering them drinks.

Catherine gave a sad smile and took a glass. You didn’t talk to her very much but she was kind and she was currently looking at you like she knew exactly you were thinking. Orlo politely declined a drink. Infact come to think of it you haven’t seen him eat or drink anything all night. NO he’s just in shock over killing someone.

You were cleaning up the last remnants of the party when you saw Catherine pull Marial aside. You tried to not pay attention or eavesdrop but you couldn’t help but notice a strange muffled sound coming from the box Catherine was holding and the disgusted look marial gave her. You quickly got back to cleaning, trying to look innocent.

“she’s gone”

You shot up and spun around to see marial standing behind you holding the box.

“what are you talking about“

“oh come on, we both knew you were listening, you’re not as sneaky as you think“

You blushed in embarrassment. “catherine saw me?!”

Before she could open her mouth to answer you, you were both startled what was ever in the box, it started shaking a little and now that it was closer you noticed there was a squeaking.

Before you could ask about it she was trotting off “sorry i REALLY have to take care of this“

You went after her. 

She side eyed you as you caught up to her “you’ll get in trouble if you follow me“ 

You snorted at the statement. “when have you ever cared about getting in trouble“

She sighed and rolled her eyes. 

“Soooo…what’s in-“

“Rabbit“ 

you scrunched your nose at her statement. “and were bringing it to someones apartments?“

She gave you an uneasy look. “Orlo’s apartments”

You tried to control the nerves bubbling up inside you. “Well i suppose it would be nice for him to have a pet, must get lonely for him”

Your friend stopped walking, turned to you with a hand on her hip, and gave a look of disbelief. “And WHY pray tell, would WE be bringing him a pet at midnight? HM?”

You chuckled nervously. “I mean what else could it be”

You held up a finger for her to stop. “AND even IF he is, WHICH HE ISN’T i’m sure they would find a better solution than little animals like bunnies”

You picked up pace before she could ask another question as she stood there for a few seconds gawking at you.

You two were waiting outside the door to be let in. You looked at the box again and felt terrible for the poor thing as it squeaked and scratched. It must be scary to be locked up in a tiny box like that. Your attention was pulled away from the box as the door opened for you.

“count Orlo is ready to see you“

You entered his apartments and it…was normal, nothing creepy, no dead animals, just…..typical Orlo, you sighed in relief and released a breath you didn’t even realize you were holding in.

Orlo opened his bedroom door and he temporarily froze, clearly not expecting you to be there.. Now that you were closer and in better light you were concerned with the fact that he REALLY looked sick.

“M-m-my a-apologies, i wasn’t expecting you,”

he gasped and threw his hands up “NOT-NOT THAT IT’S A BAD THING YOU’RE HEAR I JUST-“

GOD if he was a vampire he was probably the most timid vampire you’ve ever heard of. 

Marial let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes before thrusting the box towards the poor man. 

Orlo blushed, mouth gaping as his eyes flicked between you and the box. You went to ease his fears by taking it from marial and put it on his desk but before you could he grabbed it and clutched it to his chest.

“SORRY sorry it’s just…personal“

Your friend crossed her arms, clearly frustrated with him. “she knows it’s a rabbit, lobcock“ she turned on her heel, marching out of his apartments. She spit the last word with such venom you were sure it could probably kill him. 

He looked down at the box clutched in his hands before looking at you.“I-i-i-i promise i can explain“

“There’s nothing wrong with having a pet”

You smiled as he started to relax, clearly pleased that you didn’t bring up silly stories and accusations about him. “Please sit”

“Oh i can’t, they’ll-”

You jumped a bit when he put a hand on your shoulder before pulling it back. “OH sorry, i didn’t mean to- its just that- i-i, well you can stay here and relax a bit if you’d like, you won’t get in trouble”

“OH I don’t want to impose on you, you probably have a lot of work to do”

“No it’s fine, i’ll ask for some tea and cakes, you must be hungry.”

While he went to go fetch a servant to get the tea you took the time to look around at all his books. You couldn’t read more complicated books like Orlo could. There’s been a handful of times where the man had even let you borrow some of his easier ones, well borrow is a strong word as you’d be beaten if someone of your class was caught with a book. But there’s been a few times where he let you sit in his apartments and let you read under the guise of needing an assistant. You smiled at the memory of the one time where he read one of his complicated books to you and explained all the meanings and philosophies, it was all completely lost on you, you just sat there staring at the poor man. 

Your eyes landed on something peculiar. You tilted your head to look at the spine of the book, you felt a bit dizzy when you noticed it said it was about vampires. Your curiosity got the better of you. You looked around to make sure no one was there to see as you carefully lifted the book and looked at his writing on on the parchment. You noticed a strange smell and a stain that wasn’t ink. Well you noticed it when you walked in but the palace was so vile you didn’t pay attention to strange smells but it was particularly pungent. It was covered in scribbles about blood, animals, the effects of different light.

“The tea is-”

You were so absorbed in your discovery you screamed and huddled into the corner.

“I’m sorry, i’m sorry, i really am, i just-” Well it wouldn’t matter if he was a vampire because in a few minutes you’d be dead for looking at his notes. It didn’t MATTER that you were good friends you were still a serf caught looking at his notes.

He quickly put the tray down and walked over to you, hesitating coming any closer when he saw you flinch.

He stayed a decent length away. “Please sit down i promise i won’t harm you”

You slowly uncurled from yourself and walked towards a chair. 

He very carefully walked to his seat, making sure to not get too close to you so as not to upset you.

“I hoped you wouldn’t find out, at least not like this” 

You tried to speak normally but you voice came out barely above a whimper. “So it’s true” You looked up from your lap

“Yes, although I truly promise I wouldn’t harm you. I feel bad enough that I have to do this to animals but drinking from the dead makes me sick. Though i still don’t know if it’s just me or vampires as a whole as i haven’t meet any others, well……not extensively” 

You gently picked up the box and held it on your lap. “Soooo this isn’t-”

“Isn’t a pet, no, i’m afraid not” he gave a forced laugh

You looked at the box again and made a motion to open it. “Can i?”

“Oh, yes!. Believe me, i wouldn’t be doing this if i didn’t have to”

You opened the box and gingerly took out the cute fluffy little thing.

You smiled as you scratched the fluffball behind the ears. “You can talk to me about what happened if you’d like”

His jaw clenched as he looked at the fire, you’ve never seen him so upset. “I prommis you don’t have to i just thought-”

“No it’s fine, i probably should talk to someone it’s just….hard”

He sighed and put his head in his hands.”I-i–it was the night the carriage crashed, apparently one of the soldiers was a vampire, he tried to kill me with his bite, and as i’ve found out, there’s no difference between a vampire bite intending to turn or kill, it depends on the length of time but when i killed him it wasn’t enough to kill me and i’m now cursed, I probably deserve this.”

Your heart broke for him, you’ve never seen him look so distraught. Not even the words of the court got the him this much. You held the rabbit to your chest and got up to sit next to him on the couch.

“So i presume any blood would do?”

He looked at you and quickly got up before answering. “W-w-well a-acording to the doctor it would b-b-be better if i h-had human blood”

He was turned away from you, towards the fire. He was shaking and visibly distraught. You put the little creature back in the box and quietly walked towards him. Now that you were right next to him you could see how pale he was and all the little purple and blue veins that ran through him. You should be scared, any normal person would in this situation but you just didn’t have it in your heart. He looked so broken. Your brow furrowed with concern when you noticed his eyes were red, was that blood?!.

You pulled off your head piece and gently dabbed under his eye, the cloth came back stained with red. “I-i-i-it seams that the only liquid in my body anymore is the blood”

“You need to drink, you look ill.” 

“Oh that’s just from the light. See light doesn’t kill it just, well it reveal things”

You watched him as he seemed to perk up, walking around the room grabbing books and other odds and ends.

He ushered you to a darker part of the room. “ See how my hand looks more normal?”

He lit a candle, put his hand over it and you were shocked when it started to pale in the light.

You looked up at him not knowing what to say or do. He opened a book to a page about the sun.

He leaned towards you. “See? It says that In the dark a vampire will look like a normal person but light shows their truth.” he put his hand over the candle again. “And this is just with candles if i was out in the sun i’d look…..well-” his mood quickly changed. “I’m disgusting” He stood up and walked away from you. “Why do you want to talk to me, to a cor-”

You gently shushed him. “It’s ok, it’s not your fault, you don’t deserve any of this, you’re one of the kindest people i know” 

He looked at you, his face stained with blood and his lip trembling. “But how are you not afraid of me, of what i am?”

You were both startled by the chime of the clock signaling it was one in the morning.

“My apologies, i did not intend to keep you here so late, you should be sleeping.”

You picked up the bunny once more. “It’s ok,you need to talk to someone. You were saying th doctor suggested human blood? So that means the doctor is helping you yes?”

He crossed his arms and snorted as he rolled his eyes. “If you can call what he does helping, more like shots in the dark, lucky guesses, and experiments.”

You walked towards him and the bunny started squirming more and more. You shrieked and dropped the thing as it bit you. 

You clutched your hand and looked at the mark. It wasn’t a lot but it HURT “I didn’t know bunnies could bite that hard,sorry i think it scurried under-”

You looked up to see Orlo’s terrified expression, It looked like he was using every single muscle in his body to keep himself under control.

“You must leave, i’ll find it by myself”

“What are you talking about i-”

Then it hit you. You looked at your hand and realized the skin was broken. He could smell your blood. It felt like time slowed down for you. You thought about how kind he was towards you even though you weren’t a lady, or perhaps he was kind to you BECAUSE you weren’t a lady. Then you thought of the pain and fear he was in, and how he was one of the few people outside of your family that you unconditionally trusted. And there was always a little voice in your head that kept mocking you, saying you two could be together if status didn’t matter. You hated that thought, you kept trying to push it away. Status did matter and your dreams were just a bitter reminder of something that never could be. But if you couldn’t be with him, you wanted to be held, just once.

“It’s ok” you stepped towards him and he flinched.

He backed up, trying to get away from you. The words peter spoke about serfs echoing through his head “I shouldn’t i-i dont i-”

He was shaking. You couldn’t tell if it was from fear or hunger.

He had a look in his eyes that chilled you, a look you’ve only seen on wolves. 

You tried to sound brave. You stedied yourself as you walked towards him. “From what you’ve said, you need human blood. Animals won’t be good enough for ever. It’s been only a week and look how sick you are. I know you said it because of the light but it’s not just that. You need to eat”

His jaw was so clenched it looked like his teeth would break. “Please i don’t want to hurt you. I don’t even know if i can control it ” his eyes became tinged with red as it threatened to spill from his eyes. 

Your hesitated before looking at your finger again. You squeezed it to get a droplet out before tilting your head and rubbing it on your neck.

You could tell he was starting to falter as his hands reached for you. Before he could pull them back you grabbed them and held them in yours. He was absolutely freezing.

“Please”

“Why do you want this so badly?”

Your eyes watered as you thought about telling him. You felt so foolish. “Because i’ll never get another chance to be this close to you“

He looked at you even more confused than before. “What do you mean? We’re friends we-”

It all clicked for him and his mouth fell open.

“You mean?”

You shook your head in confirmation as tears freely flowed down your cheeks.

“Well what makes you think you won’t get another chance?. Because you’re a serf?”

“Of course we can’t Orlo, you know that” You leaned in, resting your head on his chest. He froze for a moment, not use to being this intimate. 

“All i know is i’m a count meaning i’m one of the highest ranks besides the king and queen. I’m free to marry who ever i wish”

You pulled back and looked at him in shock. “Orlo, what do you mean?!”

“You’re one of the most pleasant people to be around, you’re kind, and funny, and you’re so excited to learn i just- i just thought you’d never be interested. I was just happy to find a friend”

You leaned in again. Savoring the feel of the silks and velvets of his clothes. And how you were pleasantly surprised by how sturdy he felt.

You rested your head on his shoulder and he gently brushed your hair away from your neck. You could feel yourself blushing at the closeness. He gently touched your neck.

“Are you sure you want this i could-”

You looked up at him through your eyelashes. “Please, i’ve never been more sure of anything”

“From what i know it should hurt, but then again he was trying to kill me, so please try to relax”

You closed your eyes and focused on Orlo, the feeling his arms wrapped around your waist holding you tightly, the smell of ink and leather, the warm and luxurious feel of his jacket. 

You flinched as you felt a prick and a burning sensation but it slowly melted away. Strangely enough it felt warm, like being wrapped up in a fluffy blanket. You sighed as he ran his finger through your hair, gently scratching your scalp, it felt amazing, almost overwhelming. You relaxed even deeper. You knew you’d fall if orlo wasn’t holding you. You didn’t know if it was a vampire thing or if it was the blood loss but could swear you could here Orlo in your head.

“Thank you so much, no amount of words or actions could ever repay you for your kindness, i insist you stay with me instead of going back to the servants quarters, mockery of peter and the courts be damned ”

You felt extremely tired, like you haven’t slept in actual days. You hummed at the feeling of him licking your wounds. You felt him pick you up bridal style but you couldn’t say anything or even open your eyes, you tried but he shushed you, you whined and grabbed for his hand when you heard him walk away. 

“Sleep, i’m just changing”

You smiled knowing at the crack of dawn marial would march in and demand to know everything that happened. 

You tried sitting up when you herd him come back. He rushed over to you and tried to get you to lay back down. “You need to rest you-”

“THE BUNNYS SAFE!”

He tried to stifle his laughter.”yes it’s safe, i found it hopping around” He held up the box with the little thing inside and you smiled. 

“What do we name it?”

“You need sleep”


End file.
